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2015 Green Honor Roll Finalists

Every year, to celebrate Earth Day, GXT Green recognizes leaders in sustainability. These include companies, organizations, individuals, and educational institutions. This year, we had a strong list of 11 nominees contending. We are excited to announce the following 5 finalists for the 5th annual GXT Green Honor Roll.

And the winners are...

Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservation:

The Blue Ocean Society, located in Portsmouth NH, offers boundless efforts to protect marine mammals in the Gulf of Maine through education, research and conservation. Marine Naturalists Jen Kennedy and Dianna Schulte formed the Blue Ocean Society in 2000 with a mission to inspire activism to improve our environment, and protect marine mammals. They run an educational facility in Hampton Beach NH which helps children learn about sea animals including a "touch tank" museum. In addition, their actions include regular volunteer beach cleanups along the NH coast. Since 1993, Blue Ocean Society has collected over 62 tons of debris from beaches! And just to be sure that they don't make matters worse if some of their cleanup bags blow away, they use ECOgrade photodegradable bags for all of their cleanup sessions. http://blueoceansociety.org/

The Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences:

Manomet is a nonprofit organization with more than 30 scientists and staff working from the north slope of Alaska to the southern tip of Argentina. Manomet’s mission is to conserve natural resources for the benefit of wildlife and human populations. Through research and collaboration, Manomet builds science-based, cooperative solutions to environmental problems. Among their prominent programs is their Grocery Stewardship Certification (GSC), a practical, proven environmental certification program to help grocery store leadership reduce their environmental footprint through continuous improvement and employee engagement. This group is actively educating grocers on how to become more sustainable in all of their practices. https://www.manomet.org/

MIT Sloan Sustainability Initiative:

The Sustainability Initiative at MIT Sloan is built on the promise of a new future. They believe that environmental, societal, economic, business, and personal wellbeing are parts of an interconnected whole. They are committed to creating a new vision for progress and prosperity and a world that will flourish and thrive for generations. They empower students, faculty, researchers, and business leaders to join together in this endeavor. http://mitsloan.mit.edu/sustainability/

Tops Markets:

Tops Markets' home base is in Buffalo, NY. According to ECOwatch, Buffalo is #6 and nearby Rochester is the #4 greenest city in the US. Tops is well integrated into this environment. In 2014, Tops converted all of their distribution center lighting to LEDs. This $1.1 million investment has reduced energy usage by 2/3. In addition, they converted their tractor fleet of 55 vehicles to run on CNG (compressed natural gas), reducing carbon emissions by 50%. To further their commitment in 2015 , they are initiating an even more visible "green program", considering replacement of their paper and plastic bags with ECOgrade degradable bags. http://www.topsmarkets.com/

University of Massachusetts, Lowell:

According to the Boston Globe "UMass Lowell is among the nation's leading centers for plastics technology, and its Plastics Engineering program...is helping to push new boundaries of how these versatile materials are used, produced and processed." This includes experimentation on ways to improve the sustainability of plastics and development/enhancement of sustainable plastic replacements. We applaud their continued investment in developing sustainable solutions to plastic pollution and oil dependency. UMass Lowell is dedicated to making the world a better place. http://www.uml.edu/Engineering/Plastics/default.aspx

Please join GXT Green in congratulating these organizations for their efforts.

To see the full list of nominees, as well as winners for previous years, please click on the links below:

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Videos and Presentations

GXT Green COO Michael Vanin Featured in TV Interview

GXT Green COO and SVP of Sales Michael Vanin was featured on a recent TV interview, sponsored by the Lowell Chamber of Commerce. In this interview, Michael talks about the award winning benefits of ECOgrade Degradable bag, ...

Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce Business

The Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce has shared a sneak preview of the video about GXT Green to be shown at the Business of the Year Presentation.